James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Here are some wise words from the landscape painter Birge Harrison, about 100 years ago.

But what is fearlessness in painting? Is it the same as courage? It is the opposite of timidity? What fears must each of us overcome? The fear of starting, of finishing, of failing, of not selling?

One thing I tell myself is that I can’t get hurt if I try something bold or different. So what if it doesn’t work out? I won’t sprain a finger. I might just wreck a piece of paper.

Fearlessness comes to mind when I’m working in pen and ink or watercolor. These two media require absolute commitment, or conviction as Harrison might call it. I also think about fearlessness when I’m embarking on a composition, to urge myself to avoid playing it safe--to push things to extremes. Maybe fearlessness is really another word for letting loose that wild impulse, the artistic imp. We all have it, and it has to be let out of the cage more often, especially if the judicious, analytic part of us is the one usually holding the pencil. But fearlessness isn’t the same as recklessness. Both chaos and control must be at work together.
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The excerpt is from Landscape Painting by Birge Harrison, 1910, available as a free PDF on Google Books.
Drawing by J.C. Coll. More about Coll at BPIB.

9 comments:

Thanks for posting this for all of us. At the best of times this is a great thing to be reminded of, and even more so when struggling with a piece or trying to find the courage to create. Thanks again, sir.

Oops had a misspell, that was me that just deleted. I'm a brand NEW Gurneyhead. I don't have the fear factor as much as I let the preconceived Frustration & Stress factor stop me from starting. I'm still wrestling with color & realism technique & get bent out of shape when things don't work out in my paintings.Once I do go ahead & it works out half decent - I'm glowin' & crowin'. But come the next one I'm back with the reluctance again - but at least I'll eventually get back in the ring!

As a woman who reads the blogs of other women artists (art quilts, mixed media, painting, illustrating)I often see that word "fear" applied to lots of things. Fear of choosing the wrong fabric or color, fear of using certain colors, fear of trying a technique, fear of messing up the project, etc. I have often thought that using that word was a gender based decision and have wished that as women, we could all choose a different way of expressing this emotion. I see though that men may have the same problem. Our choice of words is so important in conveying something about us to the world at large. Thank you for bringing up the topic. I wrote about it myself just recently and I don't think that it can be discussed too much.

I call it "stepping off the cliff", being willing to try what you don't already know how to do. It so often turns out not to be a disastrous drop but a mere step off a curb, leading you across unknown territory to see what you need to learn, if nothing else. We all learned to walk despite a lot of falling down!